


It All Began with a Cup of Coffee

by RL4r



Series: FWP-series w/ Hidashi [1]
Category: Big Hero 6 (2014)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Not Related, FWP-Fluff without Plot, I stole lines from the movie, M/M, Medical Students! AU, Not brothers, Not-Related! AU, Not-brothers! AU, Older Hiro, Slight mention of the nerd gang, because what would Tadashi be without his awesome nerd friends?, because yes that's totally a thing, hidashi, or at least I think it's a thing, so in case you're wondering yes all of them were intentional
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-18
Updated: 2015-02-18
Packaged: 2018-03-13 16:44:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,239
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3388934
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RL4r/pseuds/RL4r
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>AU. Tadashi Hamada never would’ve thought that something good could come out of having to down multiple cups of the most disgusting coffee he had ever tasted during his day at rotations. Turns out that the bad coffee led him to meet an adorable young medical student by the name of Hiro Takachiko. Did Tadashi mention that he was really adorable? Because it was worth mentioning twice.</p><p>1st installment of the FWP-series w/ Hidashi</p>
            </blockquote>





	It All Began with a Cup of Coffee

**Author's Note:**

> EDIT** Officially NOT a one-shot anymore. XD Actually, this story has sort of blossomed into a multi-chaptered story. :) I'm glad that it did. 
> 
> Authors Note: This one-shot was written based on my own experiences so far on my rotations (well excluding romance of any kind obviously lol). However I am not a M.D. student (I’m a pharmacy student lol), so this probably won’t be 100% accurate. But as far as I know, I’m positive that Tadashi/Hiro would have no interest in getting a pharmacy degree, so I had to make due with what background knowledge I have. So just a word to the wise, please take my story with a grain of salt. Lol  
> Also un-beta’d and written on a whim with a slightly annoyed mindset, so excuse any grammatical errors (some are done intentionally to accurate reflect people’s tendency to not speak in complete sentences/grammatically correct sentences but…yeah, on a whole I apologize beforehand). Enjoy!

       Tadashi never would’ve imagined his new clinical rotation site (FL Care) would be so taxing. Taxing in the sense that he had to literally keep himself awake because he was _bored_ out of his mind.

 

       He had been pretty excited about this particular rotation site too, believe it or not. He had spent his last clinical rotation at a hospital’s Emergency Department, and although that involved a lot of cool hands-on work, he was tired of that kind of environment and needed to recharge doing something else. Also, a lot of his classmates kept pushing him to check out possible career options in the ever-growing Managed Care field, so he had selected to do his second rotation here.

 

       Guess his old preceptor was right in the sense that he was going to be doing a lot of clerical/administrative work and not clinical work. That was a bummer in itself.

 

      Tadashi supposed that the lack of work was due to the fact that it had only been a few days since he started and that his preceptor was probably just busy (he was a top manager after all). He actually hadn’t even met the man yet: rather he had been shown around the office building by the bubbly resident student currently doing her own residency rotation at FL Care.  Now that Tadashi thought about it, he hasn’t really seen or heard from her since the first day either. It was as if they had forgotten that he existed.

 

      But all that being said, Tadashi was still seriously growing tired of reading his Managed Care article and doing a Journal Club assignment on it for the third day in a row. Understanding statistics and clinical results was no laughing matter, but you didn’t need three full days. There was only so much you could research about every small detail in the article before you got bored. Tadashi would have taken to looking up medical information and drug information, but a lot of his resource sites were blocked at his particular computer, much to his chagrin. _So much for trying to be as productive as possible_ Tadashi thought.

 

      Tadashi also disliked how “monitored” he was at this particular site in comparison to the last one. Tadashi was always punctual and never took extra time for his breaks, but he really didn’t appreciate the need to clock in every morning on his headset/phone system and clock out everytime he happened to need to take a bathroom break. Did he mention that desperate runs for caffeine also needed to be clocked? It just felt like he was being watched everywhere all the time and considering how little they were making him do in the first place, Tadashi thought it was hilarious. _Why yes I hope you enjoy observing how often I’m sitting at my desk doing nothing_ Tadashi thought sarcastically.

 

      Speaking of desperate runs for caffeine, Tadashi had thought it was nice that his new site had offered free tea and coffee for its employees. He wasn’t a coffee addict in any sense of the word, but in the medical field, it wasn’t uncommon for you to need an extra caffeine boost to get you through the day. He had needed to drink his fair share at his last site (those 12 hour shifts were murder).

 

      The appeal of free drinks didn’t last very long though. The tea was your average, everyday run-of-the-mill tea, but the coffee was a whole other story. It looked watered down to begin with, and there happened to be no dairy creamers/milk of any kind either (there was a creamer, but it literally had nothing to offer to the coffee except a change in color and texture, which was a mystery in and of itself). On top of that, the site didn’t even provide sugar or artificial sweeteners either. Unsurprisingly, the coffee tasted no better than bitter hot water, if there was such a thing. But that was to be expected when something was provided for free Tadashi supposed.

 

       But this wouldn’t have been such a big problem in itself if it wasn’t for the fact that Tadashi literally had nothing to do and was falling asleep at his desk against his will. Falling asleep on the job was an absolute no-no, but it was heartbreaking that the only way he was able to combat the problem was to down multiple cups of disgusting coffee. There was literally nothing worse than losing your health to food or drinks that weren’t even appetizing.

 

       Speaking of which, Tadashi was currently downing his second cup of disgusting coffee (or perhaps more aptly called “darkened bitter water”) of the day because he was falling asleep at his desk again. Tadashi took a quick glance at the clock on the wall of the cafeteria (1:30 PM) and lamented how he was going to have to return to his desk in a few minutes.

 

       “Um, is there anyone sitting here?”

 

       Tadashi snapped out of his thoughts as he realized that he was the one being addressed. His eyes fell on the face of a young man, probably no older than 20 years old, if his small stature and baby-face were anything to go by. The stranger had a wild mop of black hair, but Tadashi couldn’t help but think how perfectly the style complimented the person’s doe-like eyes (they were a deep chestnut brown, accentuated by the stranger’s long and dark upper eyelashes). He was holding a Subway’s bag and a medium-sized cup of soda, so Tadashi assumed that he had been waiting for an opportunity to eat his much-needed lunch. The cafeteria was fairly large, but sometimes seats were still hard to come by.

 

       “No, there isn’t anyone. Please have a seat.” Tadashi offered warmly. He didn’t mind sharing his table (which had three extra seats) and he was going to have to leave soon anyway.

 

       “Thanks a lot. I’ve been awkwardly shuffling around the cafeteria looking for a seat. Maybe I shouldn’t have had all that garlic bread in the morning because I think I’m scaring people off.”

 

       Tadashi blinked before offering the young man a soft chuckle. It seemed that the other young man had been trying to crack a dry joke.

 

       “If that was really the case, wouldn’t they have just let you take the table because they would be busy running off?” Tadashi offered lightly. The young man made a sound that was a cross between a short laugh and a huff, cracking open his sandwich and taking a sip of his soda. 

 

       “Yeah I guess. But man am I glad I can finally eat. I’ve been needing food since like, I got here.” The young man said before promptly biting into his sandwich with a fervor that reminded Tadashi of himself when he was younger (but alas, ever since he had hit 23 years of age, his metabolism had kind of conked on him, so that was no longer a reality, for better or for worse).

 

       “When was that? At the rate you’re going, it seems like you’ve been starving for months." Tadashi joked. The young man shot him a half-glare, but Tadashi knew it was all in good fun. In mid-chew, the young man muttered a barely audible “Since like, 8:30”.

 

       “Anyways, this table’s all yours because I have to return to my desk.” Tadashi said, before downing the rest of his horrid drink. He noticed the young man’s nose scrunching in the corner of his eye.

 

       “Is that what I think it is? Is that the ‘free coffee’?”

 

       “Seems like you’re acquainted with my new best friend,” Tadashi said dryly. “But yeah, it’s the free coffee. I needed a quick caffeine fix and there weren’t many options to choose from.”

 

       “Oh man you too? I thought I was the only one downing that awful stuff because I’ve been unable to stay awake because of boredom.”

 

       Tadashi blinked before bursting into laughter. It seemed like he wasn’t the only one struggling with falling asleep and trying to remedy the situation by ingesting bad coffee, and that made him feel just a little bit better about the whole thing.  

 

       “What’s your name?” Tadashi asked, offering a hand. “I’m Tadashi, Tadashi Hamada, a new intern in the physician department of FL Care.”

 

       “The name’s Hiro,” the young man replied, taking Tadashi’s hand and shaking it. “Hiro Takachiko. Small world because I’m a new intern in the physician department of FL Care too. I started a little later than I should have, but I had some family business to take care of, so there wasn’t anything to really do about it.”

 

       “No kidding,” Tadashi said, genuinely surprised. He never would’ve guessed this young man was here doing the same thing he was. “How about we meet back up here in an hour or so for another coffee break and chat a bit? My brain needs the mental exercise.” Hiro laughed.

 

       “Sure thing Tadashi. See you later.” Hiro said, flashing Tadashi a smile.

 

       It was at that exact moment when Tadashi noticed that Hiro had a small gap between his two front teeth, and wow if that wasn’t adorable, Tadashi didn’t know what was.

 

***

 

       True to his word, Tadashi made his way back up to the cafeteria (the cafeteria was on the 9th floor while his workplace was located on the 5th) in a little over an hour. He made his way to the counter where all the “coffee” and teabags were kept and started preparing his drink. Right as he was about to dump some creamer (in a vain attempt to at least make the coffee look appetizing, even if it didn’t taste appetizing) into his cup, someone tapped him on the shoulder.

 

       “It’s awful that that stuff doesn’t do anything to change the taste of the coffee huh?” Hiro muttered, his voice the teensiest bit disdainful. Tadashi chuckled.

 

       “Yeah, but what can you do right? I was thinking of grabbing some creamer to bring in next week when I go grocery shopping over the weekend.”

 

       “Please, for the sake of my well-being,” Hiro said dramatically as he poured himself a cup of black liquid. “Buy a lot and cram it all in that refrigerator over there Tadashi.”

 

       “I never said I would share it with you. You’ve got to offer me something in return before I consider letting you in on the goods.” Tadashi joked, handing the creamer to Hiro. Hiro shot him an offended look.

 

       “Is that how you’re going to play? Wow, so cruel.” Hiro sniffed, dumping a bunch of the powder into his drink.

 

       “You could bring in sugar or something,” Tadashi offered. “Because even after using legitimate creamer or milk, this coffee will still probably need it.”

 

       “Guess it’s time to pay my local Dunkin Donuts a visit to grab some sugar packets I guess.” Hiro said, reaching past Tadashi to obtain a stirrer. He popped a small rod into his cup and after noticing that Tadashi’s drink was still a weird lumpy mess, popped one into Tadashi’s cup as well. Tadashi grabbed the stirrer and started to mix his drink.

 

       “Way to be el cheapo.”

 

       “I’m a starving university student and thus I have every reason to be.”

 

       “Touche.”

 

       The two finished preparing their drinks and sat down at a table. Since they were taking a coffee break after the lunch hour rush, there were now more than enough tables to choose from. The pair sat down at a table near the windows, where the bright sunlight was practically mocking them from the outside. Tadashi sighed a little internally.

 

       “So which cubicle do you hide out at Hiro? I know the interns all have to sit in the same area of computers, but I’ve never seen you around.”

 

       “I believe I’m hiding out at the cubical right across from yours, but because of my remarkable height, it’s probably hard to tell.”

 

       “Oh, so all that furious typing I hear throughout the day is from you? I’m assuming you’re stuck with the same assignment I have been for the past three days, so it must be some killer journal club you’re typing up Dr. Takachiko.”

 

       “Ha! As if. I’m doing my own side research actually because I finished that assignment in 2 hours,” Hiro said, rolling his eyes. “But please, don’t call me Dr. Takachiko. Bleh. It leaves a bad taste in my mouth.”

 

       Hiro paused, drinking some of his coffee. He then made a face.

 

        “Actually I lied. That bad taste might just be the coffee.”

 

       Tadashi chuckled lightly before quirking an eyebrow at his fellow intern.

 

       “Isn’t that what you’ll be called in the future though? Most people would be thrilled to hear themselves be addressed as ‘doctor’.”

 

       “I guess that’d be the case with most people, but I happen to have no interest in medicine actually. That’s why it leaves a bad taste in my mouth.” Hiro explained. Whatever explanation Tadashi had been expecting, it sure wasn’t that.  

 

       “If you’re not interested at all in medicine, why are you sitting across from me with a cup of the worst coffee either one of us has ever had the pleasure in drinking?” Tadashi asked, the slightest hint of teasing in his voice. Hiro chuckled, clutching his cup-in-question a little tighter.

 

       “It was something my parents had always dreamed of me doing,” Hiro explained, shaking his head. “I figured that I have the brains to get an MD degree, so I can afford to slave a couple of years for the sake of getting a fancy frame with a piece of paper in it. Can’t say I’m thrilled about it, but my parents should finally stop hounding me, so that would be nice.”

 

       “Well, I guess I can understand that to a certain degree,” Tadashi said. “It’s always hard when your parents have expectations that you just don’t agree with.”

 

       “True. But at least I’m fortunate enough to have what it takes to fulfill the expectation, even though I don’t want to. Can’t say the same for everyone. I know a lot of people who grew up with huge expectations but were never able to satisfy their parents.”

 

       The two fell into comfortable silence after that. After glancing at the same clock he had looked at earlier (how could it still only be 2:40?) Tadashi gestured for them to get going. The two cleaned up the table and dumped their empty cups in the appropriate trash bin. When they approached the elevators in the hallway, Hiro tugged on Tadashi’s dress shirt and pointed to the door that led to the stairs.

 

       “I’ve been sitting on my butt for so long I’m willing to go down the stairs to ensure that I don’t get DVT* or something.” Hiro reasoned.

 

       “Good thought,” Tadashi agreed. It was unlikely for young people such as themselves to get DVT from sitting at a computer desk for a couple of hours, but Tadashi supposed the walk couldn’t hurt.

 

       As they slowly walked down their second flight of stairs, Tadashi came up with a question to ask Hiro.

 

       “What do you plan to do after medical school then?”

 

       “Oh, I plan to pursue engineering and robotics the minute I get out of medical school,” Hiro explained. Tadashi noticed a small spark come alive in Hiro’s eyes. “I actually already have various Master degrees in said subjects, but I want to study more and create more stuff.”

 

       ‘Wow, you already have ‘various’ Master degrees? How old are you?” Tadashi asked, incredulous. Hiro made a half-embarrassed, half-proud face.

 

       “I'm 20 years old, believe it or not. Deep in medical school and I can’t even drink.”

 

       “Wow, I am impressed! And just a wee bit scared because just how smart are you?”

 

       “More than smart enough to know that if I don’t get more work on my plate soon, I’m going to fall asleep at my desk and get in trouble.”

 

       “We’re doctors in training. We can survive one more hour of boredom right?”

 

       “Speak for yourself.”

 

       Tadashi shook his head at the forlorn expression Hiro was making. Then he had an idea.

 

       “How about we present our journal club articles to each other? That way we can be more prepared for our presentation and it’ll give us something to do instead of sitting all day.”

 

       “I don’t have any better suggestions. Let’s do it.”

 

       After a bit of searching, Tadashi spotted the resident student that had shown him around the building on the first day. He asked her if it was ok to practice his presentation with Hiro and if there was a small office or corner where they could hold their practice session. Luckily, the resident student was fine with the idea (if anything she seemed to appreciate Tadashi’s “enthusiasm”) and Tadashi soon found himself with a small room to use. He called Hiro over, and after a little bit of setting up, Tadashi presented his article (while he was standing and while Hiro was sitting down). After some discussion, Hiro gave him a few pointers and suggestions. Tadashi then gave the floor to Hiro to present.

 

       It came as no surprise when Hiro gave a near flawless presentation of his article and even gave strong suggestions on how the research in the article could’ve been done better. Tadashi couldn’t help but be pretty impressed. He did all that in two hours? Hiro just about proved how exceptional he was in reading, analyzing, and interpreting information.

 

       “You’re giving me that look…” Hiro voice pulled Tadashi back into the present.

 

       “What? What look?” Tadashi prompted. Hiro scoffed.

 

       “That disbelieving look. Like you can’t believe that I just went through this article and actually made it understandable and interesting.” There was a hint of playful cockiness in Hiro’s voice.

       

       “No, no, no,” Tadashi said, barely able to keep the amusement out of his voice. He cocked an eyebrow because this guy was going down. “I was actually just going to tell you, that your fly was down the entire time.”

 

       Hiro blinked then rolled his eyes. Tadashi lowered his eyes to the ground, his hand covering a smile that was soon going to burst into unhindered laughter.

 

       “Haha, HILARIOUS.” Hiro replied. However, in a mere three seconds, Tadashi heard a distressed squeak come from the young man. It seemed like someone had found out that Tadashi was indeed telling the truth.

 

       Hiro aimed a light jab at Tadashi’s arm, and Tadashi couldn’t help but chuckle heartedly at the petulant expression on the younger man’s face.

       

       “Pervert.”

 

       “Hey, better me than our supervisor right?” Tadashi reasoned.

 

       “I wouldn’t lose points because my fly wasn’t zipped…”

 

       “True, but it still might be embarrassing.” Tadashi said as he took a peak at the clock on the wall. He didn’t even have to see Hiro’s face to assume that he had rolled his eyes again.

 

       “So, back to square one? Or is it time to leave?” Hiro asked.

 

       “Actually, it’s just about 5 minutes to 4, so we can get packing.” Tadashi said cheerfully.

 

       “Best words I’ve heard all day. Let’s go.” Hiro said, grabbing his papers and opening the door. 

 

       Neither of them brought much stuff with them to work, so they were soon going down the flight of stairs again to the main floor. Tadashi and Hiro then made their way out of the stairway and towards the exit of the building. Tadashi’s stride was longer than Hiro’s, so he reached the door first. He held it opened and allowed the other to leave first.

 

       “So where you heading? Going home or…?” Tadashi asked casually.

 

       “Yeah, heading home to work on my next robotics project. I need something stimulating to do after today after all.” Hiro replied, doing a quick head tilt to his left.

 

       “Sounds exciting. Well, I’ll be heading towards Woodhaven Boulevard that way,” Tadashi said, pointing vaguely to his right. “Guess I’ll see you tomorrow then?”

 

       “Don’t remind me. It has only been my first day and I’m dreading the next month already.”

 

       “Oh c’mon you big baby,” Tadashi said, tapping Hiro’s forehead. “We’ll be in and out. A month’s going to be nothing.”

 

       “I wish I could believe that.” Hiro replied, pouting dramatically.

 

       This guy really needed to stop with the cute smiles and facial expressions because Tadashi was pretty sure if Hiro kept doing them, he wasn’t actually going to last the rest of the month himself.

 

***

 

       After meeting Hiro, the typical work-day spent at FL Care passed faster than Tadashi had originally thought it would. But that made sense, since that was what good company always did to a typical work day; breaks for lunch and bad coffee were enjoyable now that he had someone to spend them with. Tadashi would’ve liked to believe that Hiro felt similarly towards him, but he couldn’t really tell.

 

       Thankfully for both of them, the workload increased substantially by the second week; both of them agreed that the increased workload was a blessing and not a curse. Tadashi would often make his way over to Hiro’s desk to discuss their research quietly together, and it amazed him just how efficient Hiro was at accessing medical information and tackling their work assignments.

 

       Their work always drew praise from not only their respective preceptors, but other students from different medical schools that were doing the same rotation as well. It led to them often getting extra work on top of what they actually needed to do for completion of their rotation, but neither minded too much. After all, it felt nice to be productive for once. The need for bad coffee still reared its ugly head once in awhile (especially in the latter parts of the work week) but for the most part, the two were downing a lot less coffee than they did in the first week, much to their relief.

      As time went on, Tadashi came to realize that he really liked Hiro (romantically) and had probably been crushing on his colleague since day one. But really, could you blame him? Hiro was truly like lightning in a bottle, a combination of super intelligence, an endearing sense of humor, brashness and snarkiness, and way-too-cute puppy-eyed expressions. And from what little of his own personal research and projects Hiro had shown Tadashi over the course of the rotation (they were admired and respected now but that didn’t mean they could blatantly ignore the rules), Tadashi knew that he was going to change the world with his inventions. It filled Tadashi with inspiration and, admittedly, the slightest hints of envy. But most of all, it filled Tadashi with pride.

 

       As his friends pointed out, that last fact just about sealed his fate and wiped out all doubts that he cared about Hiro, quite possibly to a large degree. You wouldn’t feel proud about someone else’s achievements if you didn’t care right? Tadashi still remembered how the conversation at his aunt’s café practically derailed after he had stated that he was proud of Hiro’s abilities and visions for the future.

 

_“Yep. Lovestruck.” Gogo had said, curt and straight-to-the-point as always. Tadashi had nearly choked on his tea._

_“Aww look at him, he’s suddenly so tense,” Honey Lemon had gushed. “You guys sound so cute!”_

 

_“Guys…” Tadashi had practically pleaded. The girls didn’t let up in the slightest though._

_"You should ask him out on a date Tadashi! Oh, but are you too scared? Is that why you haven’t done it already?”_

 

_“Stop whining. Woman up.”_

 

_“Oh my gosh I can’t wait to meet Hiro. When are we going to meet him Tadashi?”_

 

_Tadashi had glanced over at his friends Fred and Wasabi for help._

 

_“What do you need my man? Breath mints? Deodorant?” Wasabi had asked nonchalantly. Tadashi couldn’t believe that Wasabi wasn’t disagreeing with Honey and Gogo. So much for counting on your bros._

 

 _“_ _Comic books to bond over?” Fred had added cheerfully. “Or maybe you can combine your smarts and develop a way to make me be able to transform into a lizard at will!”_

 

_“Fred we already agreed that that wasn’t science…” Honey Lemon said softly._

 

_“And I guess that shrink ray I asked Wasabi to make isn’t science either.” Fred shot back, voice accusatory._

 

_“Nope.” Wasabi muttered, crossing his huge arms across his chest._

 

_“Some courage would be nice…” Tadashi had muttered under his breath._

 

       Unfortunately, courage obviously wasn’t something that could be given or bestowed upon you. Tadashi was going to have to do this all on his own. His friends had insisted that he would be fine (because who wouldn’t want to go on a date with Tadashi? Right? Right…) and that if he needed any dating advice, he should come straight back to them.

       

       Though the days steadily passed, Tadashi still didn’t manage to get himself to talk to Hiro about his feelings. He blamed it on his weak heart and the fact that logically speaking, he could always procrastinate until the last day of rotations ( _Oh how much I love you, human procrastination_ Tadashi thought). Oh and rejection kind of sucked big time, especially when you had fallen as hard as Tadashi had. There was that too.

 

       But Tadashi couldn’t wait forever. The last day of rotations came and went, and all too soon, the pair found themselves ready to exit the office building of FL Care for the last time. Even after weeks of deliberation on Tadashi’s part, he hadn’t been able to conjure up the necessary courage to ask Hiro out on a date like his friends had told him to. He had reenacted the scenario in his head a solid dozen times, but he still felt like he was going to mess it all up. He valued his friendship with his fellow intern very much, and the thought of possibly scaring him away for good haunted his heart. But he knew he was going to be swimming in regret if he didn’t say the words he wanted to say. This was it, this was his last chance and he had to take a leap of faith!

 

       Tadashi held open the glass door for Hiro to walk through, as he had done multiple times. The two then stood, a little awkwardly, in front of the building’s entrance, not quite sure how to address the other now that they weren’t going to rendezvous at the same site anymore. Praying that he wasn’t going to throw up his lunch, Tadashi cleared his throat. Hiro turned to face him. 

 

       “Well, we’re officially done with FL Care. It’s a little…” Tadashi said, shoving his hands in his pockets as he searched for the right words to finish his sentence.

 

       “Unbelievable?” Hiro supplied. Tadashi nodded.

 

       “It seemed like only yesterday that we bonded over disgusting tasting coffee in the cafeteria.”

 

       “Well that’s something I’m not sad over leaving, to be completely honest.” Hiro joked lightly.

 

       “Yeah,” Tadashi agreed, laughing along with Hiro. “I’d be concerned if you were.”

 

       “But hey, it turned out to be alright. Thanks Tadashi.” Hiro said quietly, scratching his cheek in an almost shy manner.

 

       “Whatever for?”

 

       “I know I’m not the easiest person to deal with…so…you know, thanks for not giving up on me.” Hiro said, giving Tadashi another one of his puppy-eye expressions.

 

       “Y-you’re welcome…” Tadashi replied awkwardly, not quite sure how else to respond. But then his brain caught up with him and he stuttered out, “W-wait, I didn’t mean that! You weren’t hard to deal with at all, so there’s no need to thank me for anything.”

 

       Hiro chuckled, flashing Tadashi a smile. At this rate Tadashi was probably going to combust before being able to ask Hiro anything. Why was life so hard? _Focus Tadashi focus!_

 

       “Hey so um, I was just wondering…” Tadashi said, but his diminishing courage made him trail off pathetically. His face flushed red against his will and he forced himself to look away from Hiro. Luckily for him, Hiro didn’t seem to mind, and if his light chuckle was anything to go by, he must have found Tadashi’s quivering knees to be endearing instead of downright silly.

 

       “Leave this upcoming Saturday open, and I guess we’ll see where to go from there.” Hiro offered lightly. It took a little longer than it should have for Tadashi’s brain to process what Hiro had said and basically implied (by some miracle Hiro had interest in furthering their relationship!), but he finally managed to nod. He willed himself to keep his hopes in check.

 

       “I wonder…” Hiro whispered. Those two words were the only warning Tadashi had before he was suddenly seeing those gorgeous brown eyes up close. Like, really close.

 

       Hiro’s lips made contact with Tadashi’s for the briefest second, but it was enough to send Tadashi’s heart into overdrive. As if that alone wasn’t bad enough, Hiro was now smiling the cutest of all possible smiles (Hiro’s adorable tooth gap was _practically_ killing him now) and that almost made Tadashi’s knees give out on him altogether. The light pink blush that dusted the younger man’s cheeks wasn’t helping the whole issue either.

 

       “Heh. Tadashi, I don’t need you to go into A. fib* on me. C’mon, it’s time to get going. People are staring.”

 

       It seemed that there were a few passerbys that had slowed down in their journeys to give the pair a couple of questioning looks. Noticing Hiro’s discomfort, Tadashi grabbed Hiro’s hand and pulled him into a brisk walk. He thought he heard a couple of giggles from people behind him, but any distress this caused was soon vaporized by the fact that he felt Hiro’s hand squeeze his own in a tighter grip.

 

       “Don’t you normally go the other way Tadashi?” Hiro asked after they had walked a couple of blocks. Their hands were still comfortably intertwined. Tadashi realized that it was a miracle that his palms hadn’t started sweating.  

 

       “It doesn’t really matter. It’s not like I can’t get home if I walk in the opposite direction for a block or two.”

 

       “Aww,” Hiro teased. “And here I thought you couldn’t bear the idea of leaving me so you’re going to sacrifice ever being able to return home.”

 

       “If you wanted me to stay with you, you could’ve just been direct and asked.” Tadashi teased back, using his free hand to ruffle Hiro’s mop of hair affectionately. Hiro giggled before swatting Tadashi’s hand away.

 

       “Maybe setting up a first date for Saturday was too unreasonable. I don’t think either of us can wait until then.”

 

       “No…I suppose not.” Tadashi said as he squeezed Hiro’s smaller hand in his own. Call him a romantic sap, but he didn’t want to relinquish it yet if he could help it. Luckily for him, it seemed that Hiro wasn’t thinking any differently.

 

       “Well, I call dibs on deciding what to do for the second date. You get to decide what to do for our first. Shot not.” Hiro said, cheekily putting a finger on his nose. Tadashi laughed.

 

       “I have an idea. How about I treat you to some REAL coffee, after our month-long torture with bitter hot water? We can go to my aunt’s café.”

 

       “Ok. That sounds good. It has been a long tiring day. On top of that, I’m emotionally compromised.”

 

       “What could you possibly mean by that?” Tadashi paused in their walking, in part due to what Hiro had said  and in part due to the fact that it wasn’t their turn to cross the street yet.

 

       Hiro paused and then looked Tadashi straight in the eye. _Where does this guy get all his courage from_ Tadashi thought absentmindedly.

 

       “I like you, like, a lot. It’s a little scary because I’ve never felt this way before,” Hiro explained. “I mean, I’ve done research on these things and as you know, my research tends to be pretty solid. But it’s one thing to ‘know’ about things and a whole other thing to actually be experiencing it.”

 

       The street light started beeping softly, indicating that they could cross. The pair started walking again. After crossing the street, they started to descend into the metro station.

 

       “Hey, you’re not alone in this. I’m not new to this stuff but I’m hardly an expert myself,” Tadashi said softly. “We’ll figure it out together.”

 

       “Promise?” Hiro couldn’t help asking. They paused once again in front of the station’s turnstiles. Tadashi clasped his other hand on top of their intertwined ones.

 

       “Promise.” Tadashi then gently pulled Hiro into a loving hug. Hiro smiled bashfully, but nonetheless buried his face deep into Tadashi’s chest, genuinely enjoying the hug for all it was worth. It probably shouldn’t have made Tadashi so giddy inside to know just how tiny Hiro was in comparison to him, but it did (this definitely classified as information Hiro didn’t need to know about).

 

       A short ride on the metro later, the two found themselves chatting amiably in Tadashi’s aunt’s café over two cups of deliciously prepared coffee paired with cookies. Despite their efforts to hide themselves away from Tadashi’s aunt (they had walked into the café under the stance of “colleagues”), she inevitably caught them off guard, their hands comfortably clasped together. In consequence, Hiro was formally introduced to Aunt Cass and then promptly smothered in the arms of the eccentric but kind woman. After some coaxing on Tadashi’s part, Aunt Cass finally left the two to their own devices again; however Tadashi had a feeling that the moment Aunt Cass left, she had contacted all of his friends to head straight to the café. After all, he had been talking about Hiro to them for the past month and yet Tadashi had never actually brought him here in person. In the mind of his aunt, this may have been a one-time opportunity and his friends could not miss it! 

 

       It seemed that Tadashi’s suspicions were not unfounded, because in less than 15 minutes, his group of friends sauntered into the café (not suspicious or anything). Actually everyone but Honey Lemon sauntered in; Honey Lemon practically burst through the door like one of her explosive chemical experiments, long arms just itching to pull Hiro into a bear hug. It seemed that Hiro didn’t mind the tall girl hugging the lights out of him all that much, though Tadashi still shot him a slightly apologetic glance when Honey wasn’t looking. After Honey finally released him, Hiro was soon being introduced to all of Tadashi’s friends. Tadashi was beyond relieved that his friends instantly warmed up to Hiro, and Hiro himself seemed comfortable with assimilating into the clique.

 

       The next couple of hours were spent talking about a variety of topics, ranging from life stories to the nerd projects everyone seemed to have on the side on top of their required academic work. Much to Tadashi’s surprise, Hiro announced to the whole group that they should all head over to his garage sometime to show him their research; all the talk about magnetic suspension bikes, laser-induced plasma, chemical metal embrittlement, and even Fred’s various comic book ideas was tickling Hiro’s fancy something fierce. Of course, Hiro would be more than happy to share his own robotics research with them too, in case anyone was interested. It sounded like fun to everyone gathered, so a tentative date was determined and set.

 

       All too soon, it was time for everyone to return home. Tadashi’s friends offered to take Hiro home, knowing that if Tadashi was to bring Hiro home, they’d probably never end up separating. Tadashi thanked his friends, agreeing with their judgment; he knew that he should help Aunt Cass close up the café anyway. Before he let his friends swoop Hiro away, he slipped Hiro a note with his number on it (they weren’t really allowed to use their phones at FL Care so it had never occurred to Tadashi to ask) and gave him a quick hug. Much to the brief surprise of everyone, Hiro planted a chaste kiss on Tadashi’s cheek in return. Unsurprisingly, Honey Lemon instantly snapped a picture of Tadashi’s bright red face while Gogo and Hiro shared a quick high-five; on the side, Wasabi and Fred were trying really hard not to laugh but were failing.

 

       After a few playful exchanges, the group left with Hiro in tow. His friends were probably never going to let him forget what happened today (and thanks to Honey’s trigger finger, they had photographic proof too), but Tadashi couldn’t help but feel really happy. He had had another rewarding experience at a rotation site, and somehow managed to get himself an amazingly talented and adorable boyfriend. What was even better was that his friends had already accepted said boyfriend into their friend circle; in addition, his aunt seemed to adore Hiro very much as well. Tadashi knew that they had some things to work out and talk about, but for the most part, their new relationship was off to a good, if not great, start.

 

       Who would have guessed that all of this happiness could be traced back to one simple cup of bad coffee?

 

*FIN*

 

  

*Deep Vein Thrombosis – Essentially when a clot forms in your body due to your blood staying still for too long. Usually happens in the legs.

*Atrial Fibrillation – abnormal heart rhythm; usually results in the heart beating quicker than it normally should be


End file.
